Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
BOONE — The Texas congressman who chairs the Select Intelligence Committee says he’s concerned that private contractors may be used to help enforce a $1.4 billion U.S.-Mexico, anti-drug aid package.
U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes tells Iowa Independent he doesn’t want to see a replay of some of the same stories emerging from Iraq about private contractors such as Blackwater.
“I would share that concern given the experience of Iraq and we don’t have any concrete information whether contractors are going to be used or in what capacity,” Reyes said recently in Boone. “But I can tell you it is something that we will be very, very watchful for.”
Reyes said the Bush administration has had poor results with its efforts to use private contractors as “force multipliers.”
What’s more, his committee has heard testimony from agencies that say they don’t even know the number of contractors that are in the Iraq theater.
“Right now, it’s a situation where contractors don’t, at least at this point, don’t have a good credibility on Capitol Hill,” Reyes said.
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